Friday, September 4, 2009

Man jailed for foiled bomb plot

A CANADIAN man was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for his role in a foiled plot to bomb the Toronto Stock Exchange, a military base and Canada's spy agency headquarters.

Saad Khalid is the second of the so-called "Toronto 18" to be sentenced for the planned attacks, which were to have been carried out by stuffing rented vans with explosives.

The 18 suspects were arrested during a police sting operation in 2006.

The scheme aimed to pressure Canada to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Khalid will serve only seven years in prison, as under Canadian rules he will receive double credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

In September 2008, one of Khalid's co-accused, a minor, was convicted of "terrorist activity". He was sentenced to two and a half years in jail but was immediately released as he had spent three years in custody awaiting trial.

Nine other alleged accomplices remain in prison awaiting trial, while seven others were released after charges were dropped.

Khalid was among 14 adults and four minors charged after allegedly trying to buy three tonnes of the bomb-making ingredient ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers. The officers had replaced the ammonium nitrate with an inert substance.

Trials for the remaining adult defendants are expected to begin next year.